Tap Water vs. Bottled Water: The Debate

Choosing your child's drinking water is a whole lot more complicated than you may think

Did you know that tooth decay is a growing problem among kids today? According to a 2007 survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 42 percent of children ages 2 to 11 in the U.S. had cavities in their baby teeth. And dentists say they have a solution: tap water.

The Pro Tap Water Argument
According to these experts, bottled water is the culprit to be blamed for the rapid escalation in children’s cavities. You see, tap water is currently fortified with fluoride, which is known to prevent cavities. Most brands of bottled water are not.

“You should brush twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste, see the dentist twice a year for fluoride treatment and get fluoride in your drinking water,” said Jonathan D. Shenkin, spokesman on pediatric dentistry for the American Dental Association. “If you’re not getting it in your drinking water, that takes out a component of the effectiveness of that triad.”

These dentists are probably right. Recent research shows that anywhere between 45 and 70 percent of parents are now giving their kids bottled water instead of tap water. And the majority of them have no idea what levels of fluoride that water contains. And here’s even more evidence to back up the claims: Bruce Dye, a dental epidemiology officer with the National Center for Health Statistics, found that boys in higher income families had the greatest prevalence of tooth decay. Basically, that means that the parents who can afford to give their children bottled water seem to have the kids with the most cavities, while those who give their children the cheaper water from the tap have kids with stronger teeth.

The Anti Tap Water ArgumentBefore you go heading to your kitchen sink to fill up your child’s plastic cup, you may want to read the rest of this article.

You see, there’s a reason why more and more parents are opting to give their children bottled water these days. After all, there’s more to a child’s health than cavity-free teeth.

Fluoride was first added to tap water in 1945. Then, it was only Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they adjusted the fluoride content of the water supply to 1.0 ppm and thus became the first city to implement community water fluoridation. By 2008, more than 72 percent of the U.S. population served by public water systems had access to fluoridated water.

For many years, fluoride in water was hailed as a public health victory. Research has proven that it does, in fact, reduce the incidence of cavities. However, many U.S. communities have recently voted to stop adding it to local drinking water. That’s because fluoride also has some potentially nasty side effects.

If too much fluoride is ingested, problems including tooth discoloration and bone weakness can occur. There have also been whispers of fluoride causing cancer. Here’s what is says on cancer.gov about the possible link:

A possible relationship between fluoridated water and cancer risk has been debated for years. The debate resurfaced in 1990 when a study by the National Toxicology Program, part of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, showed an increased number of osteoarcomas (bone tumors) in male rats given water high in fluoride for 2 years. However, other studies in humans and in animals have not shown an association between fluoridated water and cancer.

In addition, fluoride isn’t the only thing found in tap water. Just check out the website of the Environmental Working Group and enter your zip code. There, you’ll see a list of the contaminants that can be found in your local tap water.

A quick search for my zip code showed this list:

Manganese

Aluminum

Dibromochloromethane

Bromoform

Lead

Bromodichloromethane

Alpha particle

Radium

Tetrachloroethylene

Trichloroethylene

Arsenic

Chloroform

What you see will probably be enough to get you to make a beeline for the bottled water aisle next time you visit the supermarket.

So Which Is It?
Don’t you wish parenting were easier? Wouldn’t it be nice if the “experts” could definitively tell you to “have your child drink tap water” or “only give her bottled water.” Unfortunately, life — and parenting — are never that simple.

Like everything else, when it comes to water, we’re just going to have to make an educated guess, follow our instincts and hope we’re not screwing up our kids forever